User Reviews

I'm still laughing about the review that said this was a rip-off of Attack on Titan. Either that person has the worst observational skills I've ever seen or they were reviewing the wrong anime. Either way, that baseless review really should be deleted.

I'm still laughing about the review that said this was a rip-off of Attack on Titan. Either that person has the worst observational skills I've ever seen or they were reviewing the wrong anime. Either way, that baseless review really should be deleted.

Black Bullet looks pretty interesting so far though. Has a possible bad-ass villain and some potential for really awesome fight scenes, so we'll see how it goes. Definitely going to be quite a bit of loli perviness going on (and perviness in general for that matter), so if you like that in your anime, enjoy!

i like how one person says this is a rip off of attack on titan when this light novel started in 2011 lol either way the show shows promise and could have a really cool plot this should be a good one. the main character is likable and the show seems to be a little more dark than it is leading on in the first episode

Black bullet is pretty well done. Especially for a first episode. They made sure to put in more animation time over the opening and ending credits instead of a full op or ed sequence. This is about a post-apocalyptic world where insect like monsters get killed by special bullets and cute lolis. And our heroes partner may know that she is a loli better than we do. The story is a little intense from ...

Black bullet is pretty well done. Especially for a first episode. They made sure to put in more animation time over the opening and ending credits instead of a full op or ed sequence. This is about a post-apocalyptic world where insect like monsters get killed by special bullets and cute lolis. And our heroes partner may know that she is a loli better than we do. The story is a little intense from the start and the future seems dark but we wont miss out on any lighthearted and funny moments.

In the near future... massive, infectious monsters called Gastrea are rampaging around the world. Humanity has discovered that a metal called Varanium can both hurt and deter these Gastrea. They use this to create sanctuaries surrounded by giant Varanium monoliths where life can go on.

These Gastrea were once humans and, upon being infected by the Gastrea virus, quickly became monsters. In rare ...

In the near future... massive, infectious monsters called Gastrea are rampaging around the world. Humanity has discovered that a metal called Varanium can both hurt and deter these Gastrea. They use this to create sanctuaries surrounded by giant Varanium monoliths where life can go on.

These Gastrea were once humans and, upon being infected by the Gastrea virus, quickly became monsters. In rare cases, a woman with child who became infected would pass the infection on to the child in stead - children born this way had incredible physical capabilities and an unnaturally high tolerance for the virus. These little girls become known as 'the Cursed Children' and quickly become humanity's only hope for defeating these monsters.

Monsters Everywhere

The show's premise makes it appear as though we'll be looking at a sort of 'monster of the week' style anime... but that isn't at all what you get with Black Bullet. While the Gastrea are always kept within scope during the show, there is a much larger focus on a different sort of monster... society itself. It's a pretty cliché concept, but the way it manifests itself within this show is fascinating.

The Cursed Children are the world's only hope, but yet... they're treated by many as if they're essentially extensions of the Gastrea, due to their heritage. There is a lot of focus on the horrible ways they're treated... and since our main character doesn't approve of that situation, he is left to deal with a crisis of conscience. This type of concept is nothing new, but the way they develop this alongside Black Bullet's unusual characters makes the show so good to watch.

Despite this horrible content, they never let the show feel too dark that it gets heavy or unbearable. There are scenes that are horrid, but there is enough happiness and levity amid it that it balances it out so the show never wears you down. This isn't a show that becomes hard to watch over time because of its dark subject matter, it's a show that encourages you to explore both the dark and the light avenues it has.

More Than Human

The show's best characters are the ones that aren't normal humans. Our main characters and the primary antagonist - Satomi Rentaro, Aiharu Enju, and Hiruko Kagetane - are all more than merely human and they're all incredibly well-developed characters. It's strange to see a 'villain' whose primary character trait appears to be homicidal insanity as a 'well-developed character' but Kagetane actually is. As you go through the show you'll see a variety of facets to his insanity, and he doesn't always act in accordance with what seem to be his goals.

Moreso even than the unique development given to Kagetane, the relationship between Enju and Rentaro makes this show. The way their relationship builds over the show - and not in a romantic way, much though Enju may wish it - as things go wrong around them is masterfully handled. Neither of them are normal... one is a Cursed Child, the other has been experimented on and several of his organs were replaced with Varanium. Because neither of them are entirely normal, they both see humanity in a different light. Black Bullet uses this pair of misfits to provide interesting commentary on morality and society.

Crush, Kill, and Destroy

Now, I've gone through four paragraphs talking about a show that, at first glance, is primarily an action show without ever touching on the action. It's time to end that - Black Bullet is not a show for the faint of heart. There is a lot of blood, quite a lot of death, and a near constant stream of fights. These fights feature a very dynamic array of special abilities, swordplay, hand to hand combat, and gun-fights. It's rare to run into action in anime that is this diverse without having it seem nonsensical.... but Black Bullet pulls it off. That isn't to say everything is completely logical, there are a few abilities people have that make very little sense and aren't explained very well... but these are the minority, and overall the diverse combination of styles you see makes the show more exciting.

But most importantly, they manage to avoid making the action feel predetermined. That's not to say that none of the fights end the way you might guess, but even when they do there is still usually a surprise or two in store. I mean, it's an anime with two key main characters, so you can be fairly certain they're not going to die... but beyond that, you can never be absolutely sure. The show does a good job of making sure everything is full of surprises - even the story has a few twists.

Final Thoughts

I have heard some criticize the show for entering into 'child harem' territory... I won't discuss that too far in detail, but I just want to say that it really feels like that is a gut reaction to a few scenes taken out of context. The show does have a number of young girls in it, but aside from Enju being somewhat enamored of Rentaro, it's hard to really say that the show suffers from any creepy harem attitude. This isn't "Record of Agarest War 2: The Anime" we're dealing with, trust me.

The one other thing I want to note is that the ending is really awkward. The show is ending as though a second season should be already starting, but there isn't even an announcement of it. The ending feels more like the opening of a new story arc than the end of the current one, and that's a major issue for a show that isn't continuing shortly.

Overall

Black Bullet is a show that plays with expectations in an interesting way. It takes some characters who are relatable despite them being somewhat outside of the normal confines of humanity and uses them to provide commentary and a rather deep, winding story amidst some of the most diverse action I've seen in a while. And then, when you're just ready for a good conclusion to wind things down for the story... you in stead are left with an ending scene that is completely lacking in context and development that doesn't really wrap up the current stories so much as muddy them by providing the start of a new arc. It was a show that my wife and I both enjoyed tremendously, with a good mix of humour and tragedy that helped to keep us interested.

I wrote this review for my website. If you'd like to see more of my work, you can check it out at http://www.shadowedblade.net/

I'm not dissing on anyone who loves this anime. The animation is good, and I mean great. The action scenes are very well put together. But the story... It feels so rushed. I feel like they could go into more depth with the story. The plot just feels "weird". I totally agree with the other people that reviewed this Anime. The entire reason I came to look at the reviews was to make sure that it ...

I'm not dissing on anyone who loves this anime. The animation is good, and I mean great. The action scenes are very well put together. But the story... It feels so rushed. I feel like they could go into more depth with the story. The plot just feels "weird". I totally agree with the other people that reviewed this Anime. The entire reason I came to look at the reviews was to make sure that it wasn't just me. And it's not, it is a pretty obvious flaw. But I'm not telling you not to watch it. This anime is promising and I've only seen the first 5 episodes. It does seem like its going to be 12 episodes long, but it will be a pretty good anime. Hope I was helpful.

I recommend anyone who's interested in this series to read the manga. This anime does not do the series justice. (Also, I realize Black Bullet started out as a light novel series, but from what I gather the manga itself has some highly worthy filler additions to it, hence why I recommend it over the LN and anime).

This was my most anticipated anime of the season, and now having watched ...

I recommend anyone who's interested in this series to read the manga. This anime does not do the series justice. (Also, I realize Black Bullet started out as a light novel series, but from what I gather the manga itself has some highly worthy filler additions to it, hence why I recommend it over the LN and anime).

This was my most anticipated anime of the season, and now having watched a few episodes I must say I ended each one feeling very disappointed. While the animation is fairly well done, and the action is plentiful, the series suffers from your typical woes of any light novel's/manga's transition to anime, two of which I'll be discussing.

First, each episode feels noticeably rushed. Now this is understandable, to an extent, for a series that is grieved with a small number of episodes to work with, but in this case it doesn't even come off as subtle. I often found myself wishing there was more to an episode, or wishing they'd delve deeper into the affairs at hand, even just a little, only to be let down when they brush over them just for the sake of moving the plot forward. The second, and this is what really got me, is the exclusion of way too many points and pieces that set the tone of the story in general. I'd go more in depth with this point, but it's just a case of you having to read the previous material to this series to grasp what I mean here.

Overall this isn't the worst anime I've had the "misfortune of wasting my time" with, and granted there are some redeeming qualities to it too (e.g. the action scenes, which are excellent). It's just having read the manga first I feel quite spoiled in retrospective. Now to be fair, I've only seen a few handful of episodes, and with that this anime could pick up later on in the series. I'm not going to hold my breath for it though, as what originally pulled me in with the manga has been squandered in anime form, and that doesn't merit me much confidence in Black Bullet's future.

And so I come to end of this anime, like many others, wondering what to make it towards the end. And so without further a do... I present my review....

WARNING****THE FOLLOWING CONTAINS SPOILERS TO THE SHOW, READ AT YOUR OWN CONSENT

Now, what do we have to look at here. So why don't we start with our basics:

Plot Overview (Skip if you know it) : Set is "humanity in crisis setting, ...

And so I come to end of this anime, like many others, wondering what to make it towards the end. And so without further a do... I present my review....

WARNING****THE FOLLOWING CONTAINS SPOILERS TO THE SHOW, READ AT YOUR OWN CONSENT

Now, what do we have to look at here. So why don't we start with our basics:

Plot Overview (Skip if you know it) : Set is "humanity in crisis setting, the world is being taken over by an army of monster like creatures known as Gastrea. The only known defense against these beasts is a metal known as Varanium, a black substance that stops a Gastrea beast from regenerating and has the ability to repel when with other Varanium bits. Most weapons are made of this including our main protagonist's bullets giving the name Black Bullet. The remnants of the world are secuded in walls made of the metal and their onlynhope are the civil officers and their Gastrea infected girls. These girls were infected with the Gastrea virus before birth and are given powers with this as long as they can control the corrosion.

Plot Score: 6.9/10
Before I want to get anywhere near my review, I want to address some other "interesting comments" I've read and heard about this show from other watchers and reviews.

1. "This show is a rip off of Attack on Titan"
I would like to disagree.
First off: This show a lot of original stuff to be called a rip off. Okay so maybe their starting premise may be the same, but take a good look at this... Do you really see attack on titan? If this a rip off, maybe I can say Black Lagoon and Jormungand are rip offs off each other. But that wouldn't really be just now would it?
Second: BLACK BULLET CAME OUT FIRST
The original manga for Attack on Titan came out a year after Black Bullet, so if anything, Attack on Titan should be called the ripoff.

2. "Everything is rushed."
You know what... You're right! Instead of having this guy go fight a giant monster because of a reason explained once or twice, why don't we have him do 100 self monologues about why he's doing it and MORE BACK-STORIES! Because that's what you asked for! There are only thirteen episode in the series. They are trying to get as much story in it as possible, so cut them some slack. And manga people, I'm not one to read manga myself, but this is anime. Comparing an anime to manga is just not fair to the anime. You can argue, "The manga had more character development", or maybe even, "They missed some important talk scene from the manga, WE MUST KILL THEM" all damn day. But in the end, we're not talking about the manga. We're talking about the anime, so these arguments about adaptations is just useless. So saying that this is a rushed adaptation of the manga is not worth discussing.

3."The discrimination between the Gastrea Girls makes no sense."
I call cow feces on that! They have a very logical reason not to like them. They have the potential to become a freaking Gastrea, the very monsters that are TRYING TO KILL THEM. Why wouldn't you want to treat them different. The people discriminating are only fearing for their well being. The fact that they let these hazards anywhere near the inside of the barrier is risky in itself. Sure they may be humanities weapon, but they are also their greatest fear.

My Thoughts: This anime has a very enjoyable presence. I feel I just really want to like this idea of this apocalyptic world. This anime seems to lead towards a more action based style but it still can have its touching and emotional moments, which are fairly well executed. Although it can be said it was trying to be too many things at once, I can't really say that so because a change in mood was too rare to be noticed. I never really felt anything in the story was incredibly obvious to happen but I can't say I didn't see some things coming. If I had to make any bad comments between this plot, it would be for two things: The first is quite obvious, and that is its tendency to forget about a lot of things or just completely ignore some things. An example being at the end of one episode when a report showed that Enju's corrosion level is incredibly high, but then it is never mentioned again, among other things. The second thing is the show can sometimes forget its own logic. An example being the 32 monolith breaking down but the monsters can somehow stiff walk over the debris even though its stiff the same metal, but just broken apart. But I'm not gonna dwell on this. The story was enjoyable, credible, but if it weren't for its plotholes and random moments, the story would score a higher.

Characters: 7.8/10
My Thoughts: Let's start with our main protagonists, Satomi and Enju. You're standard loli girl and male revenge character. Satomi always seemed to follow the basic Shounen male lead formula, (strong will, big heart, strong in general, tries to be as awesome as possible). And then we have Enju, the loli girl of the hour. She is very enjoyable on screen and seems to follow the normal behavior of a ten year old girl. Now let's get to our anatagonists, and GOD ARE THERE A LOT. The Gastrea, our big bad monsters here to kill everything. They were not as intimidating as they should have been in the beginning but they can be very menacing. I always thought they looked to innocent to be evil. Literally one of them looked like a giant blob of purple. And we have some government official, unmemorable and not mentioned after his arc so let's move on from him. That lastly we get my personal favorite of the bunch, the masked bad ass known as Kagetane. Man oh man did he save the snooze-fest from the other villains. His charismatic charm and calm wit make him seem like a perfect antagonist. He is funny when he wants to be, creepy when he needs to, and deadly when he has too. He is the most enjoyable character in my opinion and I was sadly taken aback when he was killed off in the 4th episode. Our side characters are all standard and are not really worth the mention. I felt the character depth really shown through the relationship between Enju and Satomi. I enjoyed watching them grow and endure the challenges they faced together, and even the\rough thick and thin, they stuck it out. Thus leaving a fairly good score in their name, well done.

Sound and Animation 8.5/10
I may be a bit more bias in this section because I am a big fan of Fripside, (mainly because I love the series A Certain Scientific Railgun), BUT BARE WITH ME. The opening is catchy and gets you in the mood for action. I really find an opening song to be a big factor in how good an anime is because if you don't like the song, you may be persuaded to hear it again in another episode. The backround music is good for the show but nothing extraordinary. The thing that in the show is extraordinary is its animation. Its fits perfectly with the action and keeps you watching until the battle is over. Its entertaining to watch and enjoy.

THE OFFICIAL VERDICT:
This anime in one word : Colorful
It is a lot of different things, it has a lot of things to offer, it has some weaknesses, but overall its pretty to look at and a pleasure to watch. AND SO WITH ALL THEN FOLLOWING CATEGORIES IN MIND THE FINAL SCORE FOR THIS ANIME IS...7.73/10 with A RECOMMENDATION TO STREAM RATHER THAN BUY
Now then, I shall now returnth to the heaven wi\which I have descended from... farewell my friends.

Pros:
- Plot is easy to pick up as it follows the usual mankind under siege
- The World feels like it understands itself as there have been no real instances where something or someone does something that completely contradicts the world that has been created
- Leads are enjoyable on screen
- Series does a wonderful job making you wish for a specific result to a conflict even when you know ...

Pros:
- Plot is easy to pick up as it follows the usual mankind under siege
- The World feels like it understands itself as there have been no real instances where something or someone does something that completely contradicts the world that has been created
- Leads are enjoyable on screen
- Series does a wonderful job making you wish for a specific result to a conflict even when you know deep down that something else will happen, and the result leaves even more of an impact on you as the show progresses
-The potential for a season 2 leaves me interested in terms of the direction it could take

Cons:
- The loli cast is cute, but there is little here besides cuteness from the supporting cast. The adults are forgettable, leaving the bulk of the presentation to fall on the young girls, and even though they can create some very funny, compelling, or just downright heart breaking moments, it's pretty obvious that they just weren't created for the heavy load.
- The antagonists presented are pretty underwhelming other than The masked man. Often times they are forgotten or simply presented in a lazy way, leaving no real moments to flesh out or to showcase just how evil they are. In a few cases, the only reason they are even relevant is because the show tells you their name and they are bad, but give no real details after that.
- The story's strong point in the the early middle to middle, which is nice for the hook, but falls into the realm of disappointment for those who stuck around.
- The ending felt rushed, literally felt like the creators had an idea on how to end the story and so crammed everything in between together so they could get to the scene they actually wanted to make.
- The ending was also one of the more WTF moments of the show. The show did a good job with giving you WTF moments and moments of disbelief, but the choices taken for the ending leave you more confused on what the hell the creators were thinking rather than leaving you dumbfounded, and with no season 2 around to pick up the pieces, this one leaves a sting.

Black Bullet in the nutshell; LOLIS to the RESCUE. Overall a title that is enjoyable, but not a prime time series. Only watch if you are bored or have finished your list of anime you marked "must watch." Can hold it's own in the pool of titles, but there is little to separate this from others

I started watching Black Bullet with high hopes based on solid reviews. Black Bullet is a slave to its breakneck pacing, crippling any attempts to develop its own characters. Towards the latter part of the show, seemingly major characters are introduced and forgotten within an episode of each other, prompting me to wonder whether they had any importance to the plot whatsoever.
Black Bullet sets ...

I started watching Black Bullet with high hopes based on solid reviews. Black Bullet is a slave to its breakneck pacing, crippling any attempts to develop its own characters. Towards the latter part of the show, seemingly major characters are introduced and forgotten within an episode of each other, prompting me to wonder whether they had any importance to the plot whatsoever.
Black Bullet sets out to connect elements of mystery and suspense into the story, but can't quite deliver when it refuses to step on the brakes. So far, no major revelation feels gratifying, leaving me indifferent to the background story and the characters who shed light upon it. Despite a half-baked attempt to thicken the plot, Black Bullet doesn't really want to play head games.
If you're looking for a show to sink your teeth into, this isn't the one. The series has its moments, and isn't afraid to pull some punches, but doesn't deliver much substance. Solid animation, decent VA's, and a catchy score help resolve the major issues, but the story and pacing fall flat.

About the Show

In the year 2021, mankind was defeated by Gastrea, a parasitical virus, and is forced to live within a wall made of Varanium Monoliths, a
In the year 2021, mankind was defeated by Gastrea, a parasitical virus, and is forced to live within a wall made of Varanium Monoliths, a metal that is able to subdue Gastrea. Soon, the "Cursed Children", children born with the Gastrea virus who are able to control it—which gives them superhuman abilities—were discovered. Due to the Gastrea virus' intervention, the Cursed Children could only be female. Civil Securities are formed to specialize in fighting against Gastrea, operating with the pair of an Initiator, who are cursed children, and a Promoter, serving to lead the cursed children. ...more